New Comics Day at Last!!!

Hello.

It's been a long time since I've done one of these. I bought last week but never got around to sharing. I'll let you know what my purchasing will be like: I have stacks and stacks of books at my LCS waiting to be devoured. They have been accumulating over the past 10 months and I'll be able to enjoy many of them as arcs as opposed to single issues (2 arcs of Daredevil and Punisher await as well as several of Fables and Y the Last Man). So I buy a couple of new books and a little chunk of those sitting there.

Without further ado...

Planetary #23-Currently one of the best comic books being published hands down no doubt about it. If it came out more than twice a year it would be amazing...alas it doesn't. Each issue reveals a little chunk about the world of Planetary and pushes the story towards its inevitable end.

Whenever the last issue comes out I'm going to have a little goodbye Planetary party (for one, you can't come). I'm going to open a sixer of Okanagan Springs 1516 Lager, a bag or two of Cheerios Snack Mix (Nacho Fiesta flavour, Arriba!) and read the entire run from beginning to the very end. This is how it should be enjoyed.

The Drummer is my favourite part of the series and we finally discover his "origin" story. Not that special really but it was quite cool to see him utter the words: "Worst. Rescue. Ever."

Next issue promises some Ambrose Chase. If only I can wait that long...

Outsiders #25-Good. Not as good as I've been expecting it to be lately but good enough. A little sappy with the whole Shift/Indigo thing but it had a good ending and promises Arsenal (the best member) to meet up with the original Outsiders (and Batman) for a little adventure.

Why does Nightwing have to be such a whiny little bitch?

Flash #223-A good day for comics it seems...Flash has been running sour for me a the last few months and I enjoy a good gang war.

This issue has what I love most about Flash: Zoom and Reverse Flash (Professor Zoom)! Me likey.

Young Avengers #5-Aughhhh!!! Too much teenage romance! Jesus! I watch The OC...isn't that enough? Kang is attacking for Christ's sake! Can't you stop flirting for 5 seconds and kick a little ass please?! Ok...they did. Never mind.

OMAC Project #3-Just when this mini started to bore me (it should only be 4 issues not 6) Guy Gardner shows up and convinces Booster Gold to ditch Wonder Woman and round up the old gang and kick whoever killed Blue Beetle's' ass! I love it. Batman is secretive as always but actually showed a little compassion (towards an enemy!) for once.

I like Saiz's art a lot. Rucka has always been a little so-so for me but continues to pull me in.

I bought New Avengers #s 4-6 and expect a good little romp as well as Astonishing X-Men #6 and Green Lantern Secret Origins and Files and Documents and Spreadsheets(or whatever). But those are old and I'm not going to talk about them. So there!

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Went to see Batman Begins for round two last night and I think I enjoyed it even more than the first time. I spent too much time at the first showing with my mouth agape to full enjoy it. The interrogation of Flass is incredible; Michael Caine as Alfred continues to blow my mind; Cillian Murphy is perfect as the Scarecrow but may have made a better Joker; Liam Neeson's dialogue during the icy sword fight with Bale was superb!

But, I did notice this time that Bale looked quite a bit pudgy with the mask on.

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Got the new Clutch album Robot Hive/Exodus and the new System of a Down album Mezmerize (both of which I was going to link to but the virtues of sharing a computer with others states I should let you search those out yourselves). They're fantastic.

Am I a Scientologist Now?

Got this Scientology questionnaire from XRay Spex and decided to give it a go:

1. Have you ever enslaved a population? I'm an English teacher so I'm coming close...
2. Have you ever debased a nation's currency? Only when I'm sure it can't be spent in my lifetime. Sorry Taiwan.
3. Have you ever killed the wrong person? It's always the right person!
4. Have you ever torn out someone's tongue? I've been close...have you ever watched that show with the guy who supposedly talks to the dead?
5. Have you ever been a professional critic? Not professional...no.
6. Have you ever wiped out a family? No.
7. Have you ever tried to give sanity a bad name? It's what I do.
8. Have you consistently practiced sex in some unnatural fashion? I don't think I've ever "consistently practiced sex" so no.
9. Have you ever made a planet, or nation, radioactive? No, but when I find out you're all Geigercounterriffic!
10. Have you ever made love to a dead body? Ugh...
11. Have you ever engaged in piracy? Downloaded music, bootleg DVDs, underground liquor production, making people swab the deck. I've done it all!
12. Have you ever been a pimp? No. But I drive a Lincoln now.
13. Have you ever eaten a human body? Not entirely...although my wife has a taste for arms...
14. Have you ever disfigured a beautiful thing? I married Megan, does that count?
15. Have you ever exterminated a species? Not yet...although the wasps that set up shop in the nooks and crannies in my car had hell to pay!
16. Have you ever been a professional executioner? Never been paid for it.
17. Have you ever given robots a bad name? No. Although, I did call one Jethro.
18. Have you ever set a booby trap? My childhood was all about setting booby traps.
19. Have you ever failed to rescue your leader? I am the leader.


I find it funny that the quiz asks whether you've ever been a professional critic or executioner...as if they are the same thing. Well, maybe they're pretty similar.

Bye for now.

I'm Baaaa-aack!

I think that's the second time I've used that post title but I don't care. This is my blog dammit!

That's right, I'm back in Vancouver after a long journey involving lost luggage and too much sitting around. I have finally been cleared of jetlag (it seems) so I can operate as normally as possible. Big thanks to Niels who dropped my 863 lbs of luggage and I off at the airport. Saved a torturous train ride. Cheers Niels!

Went to Port Alberni yesterday and visited Meg's Nana while Meg did an orientation for her upcoming kindergarten class but I'm sure she'll tell you all about that. The rental situation is still nil over there but it doesn't look as though it will be a problem as things are widely available and cheap. I think we're just looking too early.

I said before that I was going to talk about Amsterdam but I feel as though I've talked about it to death so sorry if you wanted to hear about it. 4 days there is too long but I did have fun.

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Batman Begins, on the other hand, I can talk about a lot more. This is the movie they should have made a long time ago. I was totally impressed. In principle alone it sounds brilliant: a Christopher Nolan film starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Liam Neeson? Fuggeddaboutit!

The story was a little thin at times and served only to move the movie forward (why is Gordon friends with Batman so soon?) but I dealt with them.

Little gripes: Katie Cruise (or whatever) was absolutely dreadful. I've never seen such a poor attempt at fleshing out a love interest for Batman, Nicole Kidman was bad enough. I've come to terms with the fact that I don't like Morgan Freeman. He plays the same character over and over. I'm just going to pretend that the only film of his I've seen is Shawshank Redemption and call it a day. Final gripe, and I've said it before, Gary Oldman was criminally underused. BEST. ACTOR. EVER.

I'm going to give it a second viewing some time next week with my brother-in-law and my cousin.

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Got some comics today but haven't read them. Might have to wait til tomorrow to post my reviews.

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Car Woes

Yeah...got the Cavalier insured the other day so we have something to drive this summer and I decided to go get some stuff done. I was told it was started with no problem a few days before I returned but when I tried, no juice. It was only needing a battery jump but what really pissed me off was the fact that there was a wasp nest in the driver-side door cradle.

"How did you find out?" you ask? Well, the three wasp stings I got upon trying to start my car tipped me off pretty quickly. I soon discovered another fledgling wasp nest in the panel behind the gas flap and a much larger one in the trunk.

I got all theatric, it's what I do when I'm about to murder several tiny creatures, and went all Arnie on their asses. I was quoted as saying: "You have just been evicted" in full Terminator fashion.

That's not the worst part about the car though, there was mold all over the floor and shit! Goddammit! It's being detailed as we speak top the tune of $125. If the mold comes back I'm told they can use something called an Ozone Generator (and there's a story in this somewhere) to destroy any micro-organisms in the vehicle. I really wanted to do that but they needed the car overnight and it cost an extra $60 so I'll wait.

That's all folks. Later.

Airport Internet Vestibules...

...make my brain hurt.

More tonight...or tomorrow...I don't have a freaking clue as to what's going on.

Fantomas, Father's Day and Future posts

...alliterative post titles: reason number 273 why you love me so much...

This post probably comes out of the blue due to my lack of updating but I have no computer at home and a lack of funds to spend a long time at the internet cafe so get off my freaking back, ok?

I leave for sunny (rainy?) Vancouver tomorrow. Glasgow's crying today. Well, raining, but I have a distorted sense of reality and delusions of grandeur so it's crying, got it?

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Anger. Hatred. Tearful shouts of "Why?" to the skies above.

Fantomas played an unannounced show in Glasgow on Friday and I missed it. Fuck.

One of the bands I wanted to see over here as they play the UK much more frequent than Canada.

Damn...

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Thought I'd give a shout out to the Dads out there. Happy Father's Day fellas. A hearty "Happy Father's Day" to my awesome Dad. Love ya, pops.

Go to Dav's blog to see if he's got a Mr. T rap about fathers. Probably not but go there anyway. But come right back, it's cold and I'm lonely.

Does Father's Day count for me if my child is in utero? Just a thought. If so, where are my freaking cards?

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This portion of the post is intended for my own purposes as it will serve as a reminder of what I'll be posting about when I get to Canada and have a regular connection:

-Amsterdam

-Batman Begins

-Channel Five's "Superheroes Weekend"

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Goodbye. See you on the other side of the Atlantic.

I'm a teacher, I saw my baby, Sin City rocked, and my next writing venture

Hello all...that's right. Today's graduation day. I'm officially a teacher. About damn time if you ask me!

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Went to see Sin City with Brian and Pat yesterday (I know, I know but it only just opened over here) and was ultimately satisfied. The violence was cartoony but realistic enough to piss off the censors and they pulled no punches with dialogue or scene-for-scene adaptation (Bruce Willis ripping off Nick Stahl's dick with his bare hands was priceless!).

Clive Owen is my new hero. He pulled off Dwight with such precision that I was awed. Rosario Dawson (who I don't usually like) played a wicked Gail. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the costume. Mickey Rourke was perfect as Marv. Elijah Wood was chilling as Kevin. Really impressive.

My one beef (and you knew I'd have one) would have to be the sequence directed by Quentin Tarantino. You'd think he'd be able to pull of something better than that scene with Dwight and Jackie. It stood out as quite awful to me. I was really looking forward to that scene but not because of QT, because it was one of my faves in the comics! Marv kicking through the windshield of the cop car made up for that though!

I can't wait for the next movie. Perhaps A Dame to Kill For, Hell and Back and a couple of shorts?

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Well, Meg and I went to the ob/gyn doctor the other day and saw a scan of the baby. It's about the size of a grape and 9 or so weeks along.

Really kind of freaked me out to see the heart beating so fast but that's normal so it's cool.

We'll see another when we go to the doctor at home in a couple of weeks methinks.

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Millarworld has a write-off going for a 6-12 page script killing off one of the characters Millar has worked on. I've got me some ideas brewing and I'll post the script on this blog after I've posted it there if anyone's interested.

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Off to Amsterdam on Sunday for a couple of days before moving home for good a week Monday. Yay! It's been a long slog this year but it'll be good to get home. You'll hear from me before then though.

Cheers

Last pics and thoughts...

Alright. These will be the last pictures I post for a few weeks as we lose the internet and laptop tomorrow. My posting will be even more irregular than usual. We have a friend visiting from Canada for the next 2 weeks, Meg leaves on the 12th and Brian and I are going to Amsterdam for a few days. Very busy me.

The following are a few things that made me laugh over the past few days:


Jesus helped me beat athlete's foot but it keeps coming back. Just like Jesus.

If you thought that was good check this out. It may be the best picture ever taken:


The lunch box tops it all off for a wonderful ensemble.

That's me I think. I'm out. I'll post intermittently and check my email every few days. Later folks!

Booze, BBQs, Dead Man's Shoes, Rebbecca Loos...

Oh...and new comics too!

Had a regular piss-up with the folks from my English group as well as our tutor. I'm an official teacher of High School English. Yay!

It was a good time talking about plans and getting to know our tutor a little too well. He shelled out for a nice bottle of bubbly which went down surprisingly well with the Carling Extra Cold as a chaser.

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Had a BBQ at Niels' place. He's in Meg's primary group and threw a bit of a bash tonight but we took off pretty early.

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Who's Rebecca Loos you ask? Well...it rhymes with BBQs and booze and she's on a reality show called Celebrity Love Island. A bunch of celebrities on a tropical island getting shitfaced and making out with each other. It's obscene. I love it.

Although the whole idea of "celebrity" over here is odd. there are a few people who are legitimately celebrities (footballers and actors) but the majority of them are famous because of who they fucked: Fran (owns a nightclub and had a kid with one of the girls from Atomic Kitten an atrociously horrid pop group), Calum Best (the son of footballer: George Best), and of course Rebecca Loos who had a very well-documented affair with David Beckham. It's very odd.

Apparently it's not what you do but who you do that makes you famous.

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New Comics Day! Thank God. These bank holidays make getting comics on Fridays an ordeal. Urgghh....

A Nightmare on Elm Street Special #1-Brian Pulido writes the second of three horror specials (Friday the 13th reviewed last week I think). It follows pretty well with the films. Although it is a little tiring. There's nothing new. It's pretty tame as far as new ideas.

Juan Jose Ryp draws a beautiful book here. Lots of grotesque detail is his forte (check out Angel Stomp Future with Warren Ellis). The colouring is amazing, especially for an Avatar book.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special #1-You see where this is going? Well...this is the best of the three. Pulido decides to depict the remake version of the family which I find very inferior to the original film but still very cool as the whole town seems to be behind Leatherface.

Jacen Burrows, probably my favourite modern comic artist, has lots of disgusting and grueling scenes to depict. Very disturbing stuff.

It seems that Pulido took the criminals from Wes Craven's Last house on the Left and planted them in Texas in 1972 to be carved into little bits and murdered in other grotesque ways. Excellent.

House of M #1-I've been wondering whether I'd pick it up or not but decided to give it a try anyway. It was worth it. A pretty damn good first issue. Coipel's art is spectacular and Bendis has five panels between Wolverine and Captain America that made me smile. I'll check out the rest.

JSA #74-Where this seems to be leading is that the JSA are planning on finding another host for Spectre so he doesn't continue his Eclipso-induced rampage against magic. However, I think it will be a little bit of a lame duck considering Day of Vengeance deals with this specifically. What the latest issues of JSA are doing is making me hungry of Black Reign to be collected in TPB. Gotta get the whole story.

Villains United #2-They seem to be pushing Catman as a cool character a little much. In this issue he has a standoff with Deadshot over breakfast and then single-handedly takes on a whole slew of villains. Not a whole lot happens in this issue but it leads well into the next.

I'm a little worried with these minis resolving nothing and leading into Infinite Crisis. Although...I'm reading IC anyway when it comes out. This is the second best of these minis besides Day of Vengeance.

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Watched a great revenge drama called "Dead Man's Shoes" last night that defies description. It was made around here and some parts are almost impossible to understand but the visuals get the message across. Check it out!

Whew! I'm out in time for Celebrity Love Island

Let's Get Our Christ On!

Today Meg felt like shit (as well as yesterday). Her back is really sore as well as having a living being inside her. I rented a movie I thought we could both watch: Saved.

Awesome...subversive but only a little bit. You have to be a little cynical and sinister-minded I think to see it as an outright lampooning of the Religious Right in the States (as I am...cynical and sinister-minded that is). Having the entire thing filmed within a five minute walk from where Meg and I used to live was also a bonus.

Now, I wouldn't normally enjoy a film that is a Mandy Moore vehicle but she was just insane enough to pull it off. Maybe Macaulay gave her some drugs to chill out or something. Yes, Mr. Culkin is in the film as well, and he's so high he doesn't even stand up. Well...he does play a parapalegic.

The title of this post comes from a school assembly and is followed by other brilliant examples of cheese: "You down with G-O-D?" etc...

It ends a little too neatly and nicely for my tastes but it may be part of the whole subversion thing. Anyway, I'm too tired to debate the religious outlook of a teenage comedy...